Flushing pu erh bricks

I have a question about flushing when applied specifically to a piece broken of a pu erh brick. Are we just trying to flush the surface of the brick or are we trying to flush the individual leaves as well? The surface can be flushed in a few seconds bu to get to the individual leaves you would need to wait for the piece to break up and would probably loose some tea in the process. Thoughts/Suggestions?

The idea is, more or less, to clean the tea a bit. If you have a whole unbroken piece.... it's a good idea usually to break it into smaller bits before brewing. After that, a 5 seconds flush is good enough.

MarshalN wrote:The idea is, more or less, to clean the tea a bit. If you have a whole unbroken piece.... it's a good idea usually to break it into smaller bits before brewing. After that, a 5 seconds flush is good enough.

Hey MarshalN...welcome back stranger and resident pu-erh authority!

I know the primary purpose for flushing pu-erh is to cleanse the tea. But does it serve a second purpose to also "wake the leaves" as with oolong???

Hmm, so I finally got my bricks in the mail. My first infusion tends to be somewhat bitter and the latter ones tend to smooth out. I guess I should break off a piece and "flush" it for 5 seconds? then try another full infusion?

deadfingers wrote:Hmm, so I finally got my bricks in the mail. My first infusion tends to be somewhat bitter and the latter ones tend to smooth out. I guess I should break off a piece and "flush" it for 5 seconds? then try another full infusion?

try more like 15-20 seconds, more if it's really compressed. 5 seconds is a bit quick. some people in Taiwan only fill their gaiwan/pot halfway full with water for the flush, and though i'm not sure why this is done, it's worth experimenting

deadfingers wrote:Hmm, so I finally got my bricks in the mail. My first infusion tends to be somewhat bitter and the latter ones tend to smooth out. I guess I should break off a piece and "flush" it for 5 seconds? then try another full infusion?

try more like 15-20 seconds, more if it's really compressed. 5 seconds is a bit quick. some people in Taiwan only fill their gaiwan/pot halfway full with water for the flush, and though i'm not sure why this is done, it's worth experimenting

I've been filling my pot/gaiwan halfway for the flush -- on pu'er and oolongs. I don't see any reason why more water would affect the quality of the rinsing process. Any reason this might not be ideal?

Phyll wrote:I've been filling my pot/gaiwan halfway for the flush -- on pu'er and oolongs. I don't see any reason why more water would affect the quality of the rinsing process. Any reason this might not be ideal?

I dunno. I just figure the more water, the more room the tea has to unfurl and wake up, but all the teas I had washed by half did just fine, so...I have no opinion until I fiddle around with it myself!